Citizenship enrollment for the first ever ‘space nation’ is now open

Scientists behind the ‘space nation’ Asgardia will take the first steps towards achieving their goals of a lawless space society later this year, when the group will launch its first satellite to trial long-term data storage concepts in orbit around the Earth.

The concept nation is calling for its first 100,000 citizens to upload 300 kilobytes of personal data each, to be stored on a satellite that will launch in September 2017.

Asgardia, founded in October 2016 by Russian computer scientist Igor Ashurbeyli, eventually wants to create a new nation in space—inhabited by citizens called Asgardians—free of the laws and regulations currently governing space travel and Earth-based nation states. “The essence of Asgardia is Peace in Space, and the prevention of Earth’s conflicts being transferred into space,” says Ashurbeyli.